11/19/2008

Electricity suppliers across the country are cracking down as the number of delinquent private and corporate customers surges, as the dilapidated industry is mired in debt linked to unpaid consumer bills and the multibillion-dollar investment programs that investors signed onto during the privatization of Unified Energy System, which wrapped up just weeks before the financial crisis struck.

The World Bank on Tuesday unveiled a grim picture of Russia’s economic outlook, slashing the country’s 2009 growth forecast by more than half and saying the ruble’s slide would likely be allowed to continue.

Official visits by Russian and Latin American leaders have generated some colorful moments in the past, ranging from Vladimir Putin’s impromptu display of his football skills in Brazil in 2004 to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez being made an honorary Cossack in Rostov-on-Don last year.